Just because you don’t hear people cursing and telling offensive jokes in old movies doesn’t mean they weren’t doing it as often as we do. As we’ve pointed out on more than one occasion, our senses of humor haven’t really evolved all that much since the early days of film and television.
The only reason someone might get that impression is that there were a lot of rules in place back then that protected our sensitive little ears from being subjected to any vulgar or off-color remarks. But that didn’t stop folks from coming up with clever ways to get around the censors.
One of the most interesting examples of this that’s made its way online over the years is a blooper reel in which Porky Pig of Looney Tunes fame can be heard cursing. The footage starts off with Porky accidentally hitting his thumb with a hammer. “Son of a buh-bee-buh, buh-bee-buh,” he says with his trademark stutter, before making the same mistake several more times. By the fourth “outtake,” he gives us an even longer stutter ending with, “Son of a bi-bi-bi…gun!”
In the final sequence, he repeats the previous “gun” gag, turns to the camera, and says, “You thought I was gonna say, ‘Son of a bi—h,’ didn’t ya?”
Porky Pig Cursed on Camera in 1939, but Audiences Didn’t See It for Decades
With AI videos being so rampant at this point, it’s fair to assume the clip’s a fake, but believe it or not, it dates back to the first half of the 20th century. As it turns out, the scenes above were included in a short film compilation featuring genuine bloopers from that year’s Warner Bros. productions. Entitled Breakdowns of 1939, the reel was intended only for Warner Bros. employees. The Porky sequences were put together as a gag and are believed to have been drawn by longtime Looney Tunes animator Rod Scribner.
Because this footage wasn’t made for public consumption and the word “bi—h” didn’t start popping up on television until the 1970s, fans didn’t get to see their beloved Porky cursing for over three decades. The scenes in question reportedly made their TV debut in 1973, when a Warner Bros. 50th Anniversary retrospective first aired. However, VCRs weren’t common then, so it took a while for the Porky segments to resurface.
They were eventually released on DVD in 2006.
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